260. Baking it Down - Business Weeding - Sugar Cookie Marketing

🌱 Business Weeding - Stop bad behavior before it starts. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 260 - Business Weeding, we wanted to talk about small behavioral problems that, when left to grow and get deeper roots, become big problems. Yes, Heather was weeding, and this is all she could think about. What happens is ya get started selling cookies, likely because it was a hobby, and randomly someone says, "Oh, can I place an order?!" Right here - it's right here when you need to start weeding out your own bad behavior. Trust me - we write from beyond the trenches dug in months and years of bad behavior reinforcement. Pruning the weeds when they're small will make for a business you're happy to tend to. 🪴 Social Media Commenting You get in turf wars in local groups, go mud slinging in topic-focused groups, and laugh react at anyone you disagree with? Grab those pruning shears, because that's a bad behavior you've gotta cut off before it strangles your lead garden. In all seriousness, with the appreciation of Facebook groups through Meta, admins are given more and more transparency regarding group members, and as the search features get more dialed in with Facebook groups going public (versus private), your social search history will become more clear and present - a clear and present danger if you're used to rolling in the social mud. This is where a few of you will dig in your heels - specifically with political rhetoric. Listen - your cause would rather you donate the money from your cookie sales than have you win an argument in the comment section on an obscure thread in an obscure group on Facebook (pro-tip: you won't convince anyone of anything on Facebook). 🪴 Mishandling Order Intake When you're just getting started, there's no website, no forms, barely a Facebook page, and likely it's just your personal Instagram. This is par for the course - but allow us to speak from "The Great Beyond." Force people to place and order through a form - yes, even when you're just getting started (Google Forms is free). It's not if, it's when you forget an order when you don't take them through a single instake process like a form. 🪴️ Pricing to Make the Sale This will always lead to hurt feelings down the road, so eradicate it from the root now. Pricing low to snag the order will lead to clients who gravitate towards you due to your lower prices. But as your skills increase, so must your prices, and so will your clients, right? RIGHT?? Wrong - once we taste of "on sale," we rarely believe it's worth more (check out the JCPenney case study for proof). Price appropriately to your costs. Your labor costs will be lower because your skill set is, but pricing to be the lowest to beat out the older, more seasoned competition? Listen - there's a reason they ain't cheap. 🪴️ Friends and Family Discount Corrie is standing here with a shovel and a h-oe (not today, Zuck) telling you - DO NOT do friends and family the favor of undercharging without telling them this is a deal. What will happen is that they don't know your actual prices, and when you slap them down the road with sticker shock, they feel slighted. If you wanna do Auntie a solid, tell them they always get 15% off (or whatever you're comfortable with), that way your discount grows with your pricing versus a flat rate you may feel is unfair to you down the road of gainful experience. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 260 - Business Wedding. -- 🎧 Listen to the Podcast: http://theresapodcast.com/ 👍 Learn More About SCM: https://www.sugarcookiemarketing.com/ -- Pod Sponsors: 💵 Bakety Bake: https://baketybake.com/ - code TWINS for 10% off 💵 Eddie®, The Edible Ink Printer: https://www.primera.com/ 💵 Cookie Design Lab: https://www.cookiedesignlab.com/ - code TWINS for 15% off 💵 Daisy Makes: https://daisymakes.com/ -- Follow Sugar Cookie Marketing Group on Social! 👍 Facebook Group:   / sugarcookiemarketing   👍 Facebook Page:   / sugarcookiemarketing   👍 Instagram:   / sugarcookiemarketing_   👍 TikTok:   / sugarcookiemarketing   👍 Pinterest:   / _created   -- Learn more about the Cookie College Course Membership: 🎓 https://www.thecookiecollege.com/